Top Stories – July 5 – KGH Stabbing

A stabbing at Kelowna General Hospital early yesterday morning saw one man taken into custody and two people injured, including a security guard. It happened in Emergency and started as a confrontation between 2 people. Interior Health is providing follow-up support to staff who need it.

Effective noon on Friday, campfires on Crown land will be prohibited in the Kamloops Fire Centre. They have been banned in the Central Okanagan Regional District and all municipalities in the area since June 8th and it will stay that way until further notice. Campfires are not permitted at any time within the City of Kelowna which includes Knox Mountain.

A fire that leveled a building in Vernon’s downtown core early yesterday is considered suspicious in nature. At least 5 businesses on 30th street including a restaurant, boutique, pawn shop, costume store and dog grooming business were among those likely left a total loss. The building’s roof collapsed.

With the wind coming from a northerly direction, expect to see more smoke and haze around here for a few days from the wildfires in northern BC. However the predictions are that it will remain high, so air quality should stay in the good to moderate range. The sky won’t be as blue and the sun won’t seem as intense.

Do we need Best Before dates on things like cereal and spaghetti? A House of Commons committee report includes Second Harvest Canada pointing to misconceptions about the dates and whether they worsen food waste and food insecurity. Best before dates are required for foods that are expected to go bad within 90 days, such as eggs and milk.

Meta is poised to unveil a new app that appears to mimic Twitter. A listing for the app, called Threads, appeared in the Apple Store, indicating it would debut as early as tomorrow. It is billed as a “text-based conversation app” that is linked to Instagram, with the listing teasing a Twitter-like microblogging experience.

Knox Mountain Park remains closed to the public, including Knox Mtn Drive, the dog park and the path to Paul’s Tomb, following the weekend wildfire. While the fire is officially classified as under control, hazards remain in the areas that no longer have an active fire, such as sink holes caused by burning tree roots. Kelowna Fire Department and Parks staff will reopen the park when safe to do so and not complying with the closure can result in fines up to $500.

BC Wildfire Service says there were 46 new fires over the long weekend. But thanks to quick action taken by air and ground crews, 35 of those new fires were either out, under control or being held as of yesterday. BCWS says 30% of the fires were human-caused, including the one on Knox Mountain. And effective noon on Friday, campfires on Crown land will be prohibited in the Kamloops Fire Centre.

With more people working from home, Canada is seeing its highest level of empty offices in nearly 30 years. Commercial real estate firm C-B-R-E says the national office vacancy rate climbed to 18.1 percent in the second quarter. It says downtown vacancies inched higher in all major centres except Calgary and the Waterloo region.

Sports

At Elks Stadium last night the Kelowna Falcons picked up a big 10-3 win over Corvallis. They’ll play their last of 3 games later today.

The Toronto Blue Jays began three games in Chicago against the White Sox yesterday with a 4-3 win. First pitch today goes at 5:10.

After coming off a scandal-filled year, Hockey Canada is appointing Katherine Henderson as its next president and chief executive officer. She spent the last seven years as Curling Canada’s CEO.